Overhead brick laying apparatus



p 6, 1969 M. E. DRENKEL 3,466,883

OVERHEAD BRICK LAYING APPARATUS Filed Dec. 21, 1967 2 Shea:cs-Shemv lMAURICE E. DRENKEL INVENTOR.

@JQ @w ATTORNEYS p 5, 1969 M. E. DRENKEL 3,466,883

OVERHEAD BRICK LAYING APPARATUS Filed Dec. 21, 1967 2 Sheets-Shee 2-MAURICE E. DRENKEL INVENTOR.

FIG

AT TORNE Y5 United States Patent 3,466,883 OVERHEAD BRICK LAYINGAPPARATUS Maurice E. Drenkel, 12905 74th Place NE., Kirkland, Wash.98033 Filed Dec. 21, 1967, Ser. No. 692,592 Int. Cl. E04g 15/00, 21/00;F27d 1/00 U.S. Cl. 61--84 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Thisinvention relates to systems that facilitate placement of brick on anoverhead curved surface and more particularly to systems that facilitatethe placement of brick in cylindrical drums for rotary kilns.

Cylindrical drums for rotary kilns are lined with circumferential rowsof brick that must be self-supporting until keyed in place. When eachcircumferential brick row is built up beyond the horizontal midpoint,some means must be used to hold the overhead brick in that row intoposition until the row is keyed in with brick, thereby becomingself-sustaining.

One means in the past has been to lay the brack lining up to thehorizontal midpoint of the drum, brace the thus-laid brick with timbersand screw jacks, and then rotate the drum 180 to position the thus-laidbrick overhead. The timber reinforcing is supposed to hold the overheadbrick in place until brick is laid onto the remaining lower half of thedrum wall and keyed. However, there is a constant and real danger ofbrick becoming dislodged and falling on the workers laying the remainingbrick because of faulty-positioned timbers or because of accidentaldislodgement of timbers by the Workers or radical temperature change. Inaddition, the timbers obstruct the drum interior and make passagetherethrough cumbersome.

Another means has been to brace each brick laid above the horizontalmidpoint of the drum with a diametertraversing bamboo stick. This methodhas the same problems as the timber reinforcing method described above.

The primary object of this invention is to provide a semi-circularoverhead frame that conforms closely to the curvature of the cylindricalkiln drum being lined and that is provided with a plurality ofindependently-operable cylinders that can clamp the brick against thedrum ceiling as the brick are positioned and can be easily retractedfrom the brick after a brick row is keyed and becomes self-sustaining.When using this invention, a cylindrical drum for a rotary kiln wouldnormally be lined with brick up to its horizontal midpoint and then thedevice of this invention advanced longitudinally in the drum from onerow to the next as the overhead installations of brick in each row iscompleted.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a front elevation view of the overhead brick installingapparatus of this invention shown within a phantom-lined cylindricaldrum with a partially installed circumferential row of brick also shownby phantom lines;

FIG. 2 is a detail view of a typical brick clamp taken along the line 22of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a detail view of means for joining the overhead bricksupporting frame to a base frame taken along the line 3-3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an exemplary diagram of a pneumatic actuating and controlsystem for the FIG. 1 device;

Patented Sept. 16, 1969 ice FIG. 5 is a side elevation of FIG. 1 devicetaken along the line 55 of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 6-9 are diagrammatic views showing the operation of the FIG. 1device during the overhead installation of brick on a curved surface;

FIG. 10 is an enlarged detail of a segment of FIG. 9; and

FIG. 11 is a perspective view of the horizontal cylindrical drum of arotary kiln with a section broken away to show the installation of theFIG. 1 device within the drum.

Referring to FIGS. 1, 2 and 5, a preferred embodiment of this inventioncomprises a lower base or supporting frame 10, an upper brick retainingframe 12, and a plurality of pneumatically operable cylinder clamps 14mounted on the clamping frame 12. The supporting frame 10 is asemicircular inwardly opening aluminum channel or U bar, the ends ofwhich mount rectangular plates 1616 secured thereto by welds andreinforced by gussets 1818. The clamping frame 12 is a semicircularaluminum Z bar having outer and inner rims 12a and 12b interconnected bya perpendicularly-oriented web 120. As viewed in FIG. 1, the outer rim12a extends out of the plane of the drawing and the inner rim 12bhiddenby web 12cextends into the plane of the draw ing. The ends of frame 12mount rectangular plates 20--- 20. The two frames 10 and 12 constitutehalf circles and are edge-connected by means of bolts extending throughthe abutting plates 16 and 20. The ends of the lower frame 10 areinterconnected by means of a chain and turnbuckle 22 bolted to thegussets 1818.

Each brick clamp 14, as shown in FIG. 2, comprises a double-actingpneumatic air cylinder 24 bolted to the web on the same side thereof asthe inner rim 12b. A piston rod 26 extends radially outward from the aircylinder 24 and mounts a foot 28. The foot 28 may be fabricated of hardrubber, as shown, wood or any other desired material, may becylindrical, as shown, or any other desired configuration, and may be ofa width to contact only one brick or to span and contact several bricks.Air flow to the cylinder 24 head end or rod end, in the alternative, isregulated by a four-Way rotary valve 30, the handle 31 of which ispositioned on the same side of the web 120 as the outer rim 12a. Valve30 is provided with two inlet ports and two outlet ports, the outletports being interconnected to the head and rod ends of the cylinder byflexible hoses 27 and 29.

The outer rim 12a is covered with a nonabrasive layer 32, such asMicarta, to prevent scarring brick which may come into contacttherewith. The inner rim 12b mounts tubular air manifold tubes 34 and 36which are interconnected to the inlet ports of each valve 30 by flexiblehoses 38 and 40, one set of two hoses being provided for each such valve30.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, the manifold tubes 34 and 36 are connected byflexible hoses 33 and 35 to outlet ports of a four-Way rotary overridecontrol valve 42, mounted on frame 12 and aetuatable by a handle 44.Valve 42 is provided with an air inlet port fed through feed hose 41containing an intake-only check valve 46 and is also provided with anexhaust port 43.

Referring to all of the figures in general and FIGS. 6-1l in particular,the preferred embodiment of the invention is operated in the manner nowdescribed. With a circumferential ring or row r of brick placed in thebottom half of a kiln shell (FIG. 6) the apparatus of this invention isinstalled against the brick ring r by cinching up on the turnbuckle 22so that the lower frame 10 clears the brick ring r, positioning thelower frame 10 opposite the brick ring r, and then uncinching theturnbuckle to allow the lower frame 10 to expand outward against thebrick ring r thereby clamping itself into position (FIG. 7). Asinstalled, the outer rim 12a of the upper frame 12 and the valve handles31 face the brick installer. The installer can place a brick b inposition at the top of the frame 12 (FIG. 7) and clamp it into positionby turning the appropriate valve handle 31, thereby extending theappropriate piston rod to force the brick b up against the kiln shell sto further ensure that the upper frame 12 is properly positioned for theinstallation of the top half of the brick ring r. After the lower frame10 is firmly contacted against the brick ring r, the brick b can beremoved by turning the appropriate handle 31 to retract the appropriatepiston from its clamping position. The remaining brick are theninstalled, building up from either side (FIG. 8), with the valve handles31 being sequentially turned to sequentially activate the valves 30 andextend the piston rods to clamp the brick against the kiln shell s asthey are positioned. When brick ring r is keyed, the override controlvalve handle 44 is turned to actuate valve 42 to reverse the air flow toall of the cylinders 24 thereby retracting the piston rods 26 from theirbrick clamping position and the apparatus moved onto the next partiallyassembled brick ring r (FIG. 11).

Because the outer rim 12a faces the brick installer, it may be used as aplatform for the brick from which the installer may push the brick intoposition between the shell s and the feet 28. This rim 12a thuseliminates the need for the brick installer to hold the brick overheadwhile clamping it into position. As shown in FIG. 2, the foot 28presents an outer surface even with the lined outer surface of the rim12a to facilitate the brick installer in positioning the brick prior toclamping it against the shell s.

It is believed that the invention will have been clearly understood fromthe foregoing detailed description of my now-preferred illustratedembodiment. Changes in the details of construction may be resorted towithout departing from the spirit of the invention and it is accordinglymy intention that no limitations be implied and that the hereto annexedclaims be given the broadest interpretation to which the employedlanguage fairly admits.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property orprivilege is claimed are defined as follows.

I claim:

1. An overhead brick laying apparatus which comprises a semicircularbrick clamping frame; a semicircular supporting frame rigidly attachedto the ends of said brick clamping frame; a plurality of separate andindependent lamp means, each comprising a cylinder and cylinder rodassembly radially mounted on the brick clamping frame; and means forextending and retracting the rods of the cylinder and cylinder rodassembly to and from brick engaging positions, including a plurality ofseparate and independent manually-actuable cylinder control valves, eachcylinder control valve being in fluid communication with the head androd ends of one cylinder and being communicable with a source ofpressurized fluid, and each cylinder control valve having an actuatinghandle mounted on the brick clamping frame.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said means for extending saidclamp means includes an override manually actuable directional controlvalve in fluid communication with each cylinder control valve adapted toactuate the cylinder control valves in unison.

3. An overhead brick laying apparatus which comprises a semicircularbrick clamping frame Z cross section with radially displaced inner andouter rims separated by an interconnected web aligned perpendicularly tosaid rims; a semicircular supporting frame rigidly attached to the endsof said brick clamping frame; a plurality of separate and independentclamp means, each comprising a cylinder and cylinder rod assemblyradially mounted on the side of said web from which said inner rimextends; means for extending and retracting the rods of the cylinder andcylinder rod assemblies to and from brick engaging positions including aplurality of separate and independent manually-actuatable cylindercontrol valves, each cylinder control valve being in fluid communicationwith the head and rod ends of one cylinder and being communicable with asource of pressurized fluid, and each cylinder control valve having anactuating handle mounted on the side of said web from which said outerrim extends.

4. Apparatus according to claim 3 including means mounted on each of thecylinder rod assemblies having an outer surface even with the outersurface of said outer rim when in its retracted position forfacilitating positioning of the brick prior to clamping.

5. Apparatus according to claim 3 wherein a nonabrasive covering isprovided on the outer surface of said outer rim.

6. Apparatus according to claim 3 including means for contracting thedistance between the ends of said supporting frame.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,382,668 6/1921 ORourke 61-843,075,359 1/ 1963 Clark 52749 3,208,795 9/ 1965 Schultz 525 15 3,383,8245/ 1968 Linnemann 52749 FOREIGN PATENTS 7,845 ll/ 1838 Great Britain.1,081,912 5/ 1960 Germany.

HENRY C. SUTHERLAND, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 52749

